Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 11:26:09 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: "George M. Jett" Subject: Charles County Birds - March 7, 2004 Comments: To: SMAS Comments: cc: Miliff@aol.com, BlkVulture@aol.com, Gwen Brewer MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Folks Yesterday Gwen took me to King George and Westmoreland County, Virginia = to work on my Big Charles County year. All the birds on the Potomac are = Maryland birds and based on a tip from Todd Day, we headed to Virginia's = Westmoreland State Park. The target species was Red-necked Grebe. We = did not find the target species, but had some great flocks of waterfowl = once we got down to George Washington's birth place. Colonial Beach and = north was pretty dull with the highlight being four Horned Grebe up to = that point. At the GW birth place we hit one of the largest flocks of duck I have = every observed on the river. We easily had 600 + Canada Geese, 200 = Tundra Swan (on the MD side), 50+ Gadwall (in the VA shallows), 150 = Canvasback, 3500 Greater Scaup, perhaps 30 Common Goldeneye, maybe 100 = Bufflehead, up to seven Surf Scoters, two Northern Shovelers, and we = don't know what else. We also had about six more Horned Grebe before a = fishing boat came racing through, and flushed the flock before we could = fully survey them. =20 South at Westmoreland we had perhaps five Red-throated Loon, two Common = Loon (along the way), lots more Scaup (this time mixed but mostly = Greater - some of which may have been north before the fishing boat = event), upwards of 2000 Ruddy Ducks, two more Surf Scoters, and a = smattering of Bufflehead. Westmoreland is on the Charles County/Saint = Mary's line on the Potomac, and offers an opportunity to work on both = county lists while sitting at the picnic table scanning the water. =20 The Osprey conservative (I hate to be associated with that word) count = on the VA side was about 12 birds. Gwen heard only one Eastern Bluebird = during the entire time in VA. This animal needs additional help to grow = the population after two hard winters. More later on that. At home we enjoyed the continued visits of the Fox Sparrows (six today), = and Rusty Blackbirds. Up to 35 briefly stopped over early this morning = - only six males yesterday. One male particularly enjoys split peanuts = and is pretty reliable. The others did not stay long. Three = Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and one Ruby-crowned Kinglet continue to = consume the peanut butter. =20 And finally the best news. Between 5:45 and 6:10 PM about 700 Canada = Geese were calling and heading north in waves to breed. In the forth = wave One WHITE MORPH SNOW GOOSE was easily seen to the east of the = house. This is yard bird # 154 and a long awaited addition. Patients = paid off. It only took the first 540 Canada's to find the first Snow = Goose for the property. It is very hard to get a new yardbird. Only = two all of last year. A good start and number 49 for the year. An = unidentified number of Tundra Swans were also on the move last night, = but out of sight both before and after the sunset.=20 Still on the mend but having a better time of it. Regards George =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D =========================================================================